Fuel for internal-combustion engines



Patented Apr. 8, 1930 UNITED STATES,

ROBERT JOHN, OF LONG BRANCH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO ABJON CHEMICAL 00.,

PATENT-OFFICE v A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY FUEL FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES No Drawing.

This invention relates to 'a fuel for internal combustion engines and the general object thereof is to provide a composition fuel which may be used to advantage in such an engine.

w The fuel used in the large majority of internal combustion engines has, for many years past, been the more or less pure higher boiling distillates of a natural hydrocarbon and is lmown as gasoline. Of late years many expedients have been resorted to in attempts to improve the results obtained by the use of such gasoline. Such expedients have been the introduction of water or steam into the combustion chamber of the engine at the time of combustion, both through the fuel inlet and through admixture-with the lubricating oil of a motor; or chemicals, such as certain lead derivatives, have been added to the gasoline in order to improve the burning of the fuel within the engine cylinder.

My invention relates particularly to the addition of a material or. combination of materials to the gasoline or other fuel of the engine, to improve those qualities of the fuel which enable it to be used in an internal combustion engine. e

One ofthe objectsof the invention is a motor fuel which will more completely be consumed during the combustion cycle of the operation of an internal combustion engine, than is the usual gasoline.

Another ob'ect of the invention is a motor fuel which W111 yield greater power than is yieldedb untreated asoline.

A further object of the invention is a motor fuel which will prevent the formation of carbon in the cylinders of an internal combustion engine and which will gradually eliminate carbon which has previously been formed and deposited in the cylinders.

A further object of the invention, is a motor fuel which will prevent and eliminate the so called carbonknock in the engine which is supposed to'be due to the detonation rather than the burning of the charge in the cylinders." .-1

Another object of the invention is a process 0 of forming a fuel suitable for use in an ,in-

Application filed July 27,

1929. Serial No. 125,330.

ternal combustion engine and having the above characteristics.

Other objects and features of the inventionwill more fully appear from the following description and willparticularly be pointed out in the claims.

My invention is capable of embodiment in many. different forms of motor fuels and by the use of various compositions of matter, and while I shall choose, for the purpose of illustrating my invention, an embodiment which is known to me to be satisfactory, such embodiment is to be regarded only as typical and my invention is not to be confined thereto.

The example chosen for illustration is designed for use in the well known multi-cylin- 'der four-cycle type of internal combustion.

engine, such as is generally employed in automobiles, motor boats, air planes and in many other forms of power production.

The motor fuel which I have invented prefv erably has as its base the usual so called gasoline consisting of a mixture of hydrocar-' bons obtained by the distillation of petroleum and having a specific gravity of approximately 56 B. I mention gasoline because it is the fuel which is now almost entirely used in internal combustion engines. 7 A distillate having a higher or a lower boiling point than gasoline may be used if suitable arrangements are made for carburetting the fuel. For instance, the so called petroleum ether which is of lower boiling. point than gasoline, or naphtha or the better grades of kerosene which are higher boiling distillates than asoline, may be used as the base of my fuel, but in latter cases suitable means for carburetion or reheating of the fuels before they areintro uced tothe c 'linders of an engine, should be made, or t 'e fuel should be used with an engine, such'as an engine of the Diesel type, which is designed to operate on the high boiling distillation' products. I I

Taking gasoline as the basis of the fuel, I introduce into one gallon of the fuel, 18 rains 95 of a metallic'salt, such as a 'chlorideof' an antimony group metal, preferably antimonytrichloride. Antimonytrichloride dissolves readily in asoline provided the mixture" is stirred. T e metallic saltis then carried by the liquid fuel through the carburetor and" intake manifold into the cylinders of the internal combustion engine,.where it probably burns with the fuel. Whether it burns or not, it tends to eliminate knocks in the engine and carbon deposits in the cylinder, both of which are due-to improper combustion and yields an increase in power over that which would be obtained by the use of an untreated fuel. The metallic salt thus beneficially affectsthe burning or the explosion of the fuel within the engine no matter whether or not the salt itself is consumed. Furthermore, by the continued use of the treated fuel, the previously formed carbon deposits are gradually reduced and finally eliminated.

I have discovered that the means employed to incorporate a metallic salt in the gasoline has a distinct bearing on the results obtained by the use of the fuel, and that by the use 'of'certain solvents I am able to improve the result over the step previously described of dissolving the salt directly in the hydrocarbon. Furthermore, in cases where the treated gasoline cannot be purchased directly from filling stations, it would probably be inconvenient for the average motorist to carry' around with him the small amounts of metallic salts which are to be added to the usual 5 or 10 gallons of gasoline which the motorist purchases at one time and to stir the salt into the gasoline until it is dissolved. I therefore contemplate using a material which is a sol- 'vent for the salt and which also is readily soluble-in the gasoline and dissolving the salt in this material prior to its addition to the gasoline. In this way the motorist is enabled easily to'add the salt to the gasoline and is enabled to carry a small amount of the salt in' a container of appreciable bulk.

To the end of improving the effectiveness 7 of the fuel, I have employed as a solvent for in one gallon of benzol and then, add this solution to the gasoline in the proportion of approximately? ounces of the solution for each five gallons of gasoline. In preparing thev salt for. sale to, and use by, individual motorists, I bottle or pack this solution in 2 ounce containers so that all thatthe motorist has to do in order to obtain a treated fuel, therefore, is to add the contents of a 2 ounce container to each 5 gallons of gasoline.

As a result of using gasoline containing the above proportion of treating solution, the engine runs with a smooth flow of ower, without knocks and without carbon ormation due to imperfect combustion, as well as with the final elimination of carbon previously formed. In find that the power developed by an engine using the treated fuel is 25% more than the power developed by the same engine using the same, but untreated fuel. I further find that my objects are attained to a degree unattainable by the use of lead salts or water, so far as the uses of these are known to me, or of any other means for accomplishing such results known to me.

As many modifications of my invention can be made without departing from the spirit thereof, I desire the invention to be construed as broadly as the limitations in the claims. taken in conjunction with the prior art, may allow.

I claim:

1. 'A fuel for internal combustion engines comprising a hydro-carbon having dissolved therein antimonytrichloride.

2. A fuel for internal combustion engines comprising a liquid hydro-carbon having dissolved therein antimonytrichloride.

3. A fuel for internal combustion engines comprising gasoline, antimonytrichloride., and a liquid which is miscible with gasoline arad which is a solvent for antmonytri'chlor1 e.

4. A fuel for internal combustion engines comprising gasoline, antimonytrichloride, and a. combustible liquid which is miscible with gasoline and which is a solvent for antimonytrichloride. I

In testimony that I I have hereunto set my hand this 23rd day of July, 1926.

ROBERT JOHN.

claim the I foregoing, I 

